Welding Table

Went to my GP today to show him my x rays of the broken back, and have him convert the report to English. Seems I have a 5 cm. descending aortic aneurysm that an echo didn't catch a couple of weeks ago. Tomorrow I go pick up the pics and take them to the cardiologist. It's operable when it reaches 6 cm. I don't know if I want to go through another open heart surgery or just let nature take its course. Then I have a shrink appointment in the afternoon to talk to him about why I feel depressed.

Oy.

Steve

After reading all this stuff, and looking at the pictures, I have decided how I am going to build my NEXT welding table. The open gridwork, make of welded up angle iron is good, but I also like to have a closed flat area where I can line up and assemble small parts. So I will have a plate, maybe

1' x 2' that I can drop in when I want. I may even have another drop-in plate with a straightedge backstop for quickly aligning stuff. Could also have a plate with a length of angle iron welded to it, with the Vee pointed up, for but welding pipe and tubing.

I work on a grid type table, mostly building frames for theatrical scenery, so my table is 5x18 feet, but the design and concept is scalable to whatever you need. It is a little lighter, but denser grid than Steve uses, works great for me.

In the dropbox as weldingtable1 & weldingtable2

In the 2 photo you can see the "flying feeder", that allows me to weld in a 8x20 foot area without moving the welding machine.

Under the table is a rack for "kits" of cut tubes, and shelves for other bits that can be stored under a welding table, there is a 1/4" lauan cover to keep spatter away from the stuff stored below.

The table is made from 1"x1" 11ga. square tube, with perimeter and legs of 1.5" 11 ga. square tube. The grid bars are 1 ft on ctr lengthwise and 15" widthwise. The Fence is a set of 3/8" 2x2 angles squared to each other.

If I did it again, I would shift away from even 1' centers, the table works best if the joints land in space and can be clamped. A selection of steel and Aluminum blocks are kept to aid in clamping up joints. Some of this can be seen in picture 1.

Stuart

Actually, it was 1 1/4" I found out today.

I added the steel cover to the table today. Here are the pictures..

I've decided to leave the back open for now instead of closing it in like I was first going to do. Not only would that allow me to work on larger pieces which could hang out the back, it gives me some potential clamping options I wouldn't have if I closed in the back.

I got started on the next project as well which is to make a bracket to hang the 25' 50 amp extension cord for the welder. I should be able to get that finished tomorrow. After a few more projects to help set up my workplace, I might actually get to work on building the storage shelves!

Oh, and I threw my back out last night as well. It happens to me if I try to move too much heavy weight around the wrong way. Every time I turned the wrong way working on this project I couldn't help but think of you Steve! At least my back pains should heal quickly and be gone soon.

You may want to rethink the vise on the table. My primary table is 36"x36" with a big honking vise. It gets in the way more than it is used.

I threw out my back a few weeks ago toss> snipped-for-privacy@kcwc.com (Curt Welch) wrote:

So far, I've probably used the vise more than the table. :) It will get in the way for larger projects, but then I'll just use my 15'x20' table (the garage floor). That's not too easy on the back however so it will be nice to use the workbench when I can.

Mostly, it's just a workbench I can weld on for small projects vs a real welding table. At the moment, it's more useful to have a workbench with a vise than to have a good welding table.

Same here on the vise. So, I just mount it when I need it, but that is a bother, too.

Steve

I looked at that. Nice. It looks like you clamped on a piece of tube and then just folded the edge over with a hammer. How much time did you spend on it with the hammer. The finished edges (atleast in the pic) don't look all that hammered.

Bob La Londe

Did you mean to post a link?

Sorry, I guess I forgot that everybody doesn't know about the metalworking.com dropbox.

I clamped a piece of angle iron to hold it down when I did the sides. I also placed a piece of angle iron under the metal. So the sheet metal was clamped between two pieces of angle iron. For the back however, I just used angle on top and the wood of the bench below for the hammering.

The front edge of the bench already had a metal piece to give it extra strength so I just used that as the backing as I hammered.

Made my arm so weak I had to rest for a while. :) One thing about metalworking is that it seems to want to build your strength. Everything seems heaver than woodworking. Still, it didn't take very long.

It took maybe 10 hits in each spot to bend it all the way down. I just made multiple passes back and forth along the edge until I worked it all the way down. I used both a 32 oz ball peen and a sledge which I think was

4 lbs. The sledge worked better but wore out my arm faster.

The pictures probably don't have enough detail to see the hammer marks and the uneven finish that resulted but they are there. Still, it turned out just fine by my standards. The edges were somewhat rounded simply because that's what happens when you try to bend it by hammering. 16 ga steel is not easy to bend with a hammer. If I did it again, I might go with 18 ga.

Even in real life the fact it was hammered is hard to see unless you take the time to examine it closely. My main concern was keeping the top flat against the table and not letting it bow up from the hammering which is why I clamped it down with the angle iron.

My big vise is on another small but stout table next to the welding table. Not intended to be used, but handy where it is. I have two others mounted inside the shop.

Martin

Mart>> You may want to rethink the vise on the table. My primary table is >> 36"x36"

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I use a sheet of bar grating mounted on a wheeled cart. I welded a chunk of 3x3x1/4 on each end. Works well with clamps, grit, magnets, tacks. I mounted a very small 3" vise on one end of the front angle iron, it really helps hold small things until tacked. I've not found it to be in the way, but it is easily removable with a single bolt. Pegs welded on the side hold gloves, helmet, slag hammer, brush, etc.